Nicholas at the Library

by Hazel Hutchins, Ruth Ohi (Illustrator)

Nicholas finds a very small chimpanzee at the library, and when the head librarian tells him it is a lost-story chimpanzee, the three of them travel from book to book, trying to find the story to which the little ape belongs

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fantasy, Canada

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Born and raised in southern Alberta, Hazel is the author of over forty books for children. Her work covers a wide age range – from picture books for the youngest set to novels for older grades – and delights in enterprising characters, interesting facts, gentle humour and the natural warmth of friendship and family. A popular presenter at schools and libraries across Canada, Hazel's books are also found in translation in many corners of the world.

Reviews

[C. (Comment, never msg). · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two weeks ago, my spouse & I delighted in a charity’s book sale. We triumphantly find such treasures there that we (well, he) makes quadruple trips to our car. I breeze through just about every hall, including the children’s section and always discover a new Canadian author and illustrator. “Nicholas At The Library” is just such a gem and it easily earned four stars when I read it today, my first book in the spring out of doors.

Hazel Hutchins from Alberta, writes for kids and toddlers; educational outings and heartfelt novels. My book entails a sweet story about a Mom who needs to take her bouncy boy out of the house on a rainy day. A habit of stacking books as building material instead of reading their contents, is established. I was surprised the library administration left him to it. When he reported a mysterious character who was lost on the shelves, however, he found one creative thinking librarian who could see the tiny animal. She knew just how they needed to find the book from whence the little fellow came!

This was a wonderfully inventive, harmless, and breathtakingly brisk hop through books to help a stray animal get home, as we should do in real life. You can guess that the child got interested in reading; just the right message for a storybook handed out for free on Canada Book Day of 1999! It was first published in 1990.

The wonderful illustrator of absolutely gorgeous pages is an Asian, Toronto girl: Ruth Ohi! The pages of foreign animals and lush bushes look exquisitely exotic and scenes in the library and city are recognizably modern. A soggy kitty peering at the sidewalk in the rain is adorable! I love paintings in which colours saturate their canvasses deeply and vividly.

[RAPHAEL]

IT IS SO COOL

[Chance Hansen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second TD supported book and it has the same premise.Is this the original version of the Girl Who Hated Books? Because their scaringly similar. All the way down to the ending. I saw this book growing up but I never got invested enough to read it until now. I don't know why but this Chimpanzee really reminds me of Curious George reference. I don't know why I had nothing to do with that monkey growing up but he just reminds me of him.
COVER
The cover is just an image from inside the book. (Page 13) It does show what it needs to show to describe the book. Two people and a monkey running through a pop-up book. Personally I find the title ill-placed. I would have butted it up against the border corner on the right side. (Placing it on the left would cut off the monkey then) (You would loose most of the red bird and part elephant but you gain a full volcano and a spear. (Also by doing that the lions would pop a little more on the cover.))

INTERIOR ART
It is cool how on page 14 they are literally cut the librarian off the page to show them going to the next page but unfortunately they don't use it again so it looks more like an image placement error. I have to give it to Ruth Ohi for the art work. Granted the books aren't actually titled but each book spine (If not most) have a scribble of a title. And that takes time. (Unfortunately it does look like she did run out of time.(The scribbles didn't make it all the way to the end of the story.) (It isn't bad (actually I feel bad) but I'm just I'm calling out that little detail that wasn't added all the way to the end.)

STORY
Reading the first page really didn't impress me. It seems rushed with not much thought put into it. I would have made it more specific than just jumping on the furniture and running wildly with his twenty-three friends. (The fort concept is really cute and very fitting for this book.)
I did get annoyed when I read the same sentence four times on two pages. Thankfully they don't say (Just a small chimpanzee - the kind that could ride in a pencil case or bathe in a cereal bowl.) any more after that.
The ending of this book isn't bad but it isn't my favorite. If I had to choose I like the ending of the Girl who hated books more.

[Nicole Dylewicz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had never heard ir seen this book when I was a child so when I decided to read it it came to me as a surprise. The story was about a little boy named Nicholas. He and his mother went to the library one day and when Nicholas was there he decided to just stacks the books ontop of one another and not read them. As most children do, they rather go outside and play and not go to the library and read. Instead of reading they rather throw books around and find other ways to use the books. However, this case was different. When Nicholas was picking out more books to "stack" he came across something very unusual in the shelf; a monkey. Not knowing what to do he asks the library for her help and then the three of them were taken on a magical adventure. To me, I think reading this book will encourage more kids to want to pick books from a shelf so they too can go on the same adventure as Nicholas. The story is filled with many adventures and obstacles to overcome to make sure the monkey returns to the book he belongs to before it is too late. Read the story to find out what happens. Will the monkey make it back to its book or will he be lost forever? The story of the Nicholas is very cute and the pictures are beautifully illustrated.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tale of a small, energetic boy who would rather be fort-building than reading quietly is rather long on text for a read-aloud. This makes the trajectory of the plot sometimes hard to follow for younger listeners as well. However the adventures he and the Head Librarian take while trying to return a book-jumping monkey to his correct volume demonstrates why every trip to the library is an adventure.